English charms rule at the Windsor Court

It is Friday around midnight, and the lounge at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans' central business district is alive with the sweet vibes of Robin Barnes and her band.

As Barnes, who's known as "the Songbird of New Orleans" for her wide-ranging jazz vocals, belts out tunes, a well-heeled crowd soaks up the elegant English charm of the Polo Club Lounge, where the wood paneling and plush furnishings offer a sharply different feel from the craziness on Bourbon Street, about a 15-minute walk away.

The Polo Club, which opened on the second floor of the Windsor Court in 1984, underwent a $300,000, 930-square-foot expansion last summer. The renewed product has more stage room for the musicians who perform there five nights a week as well as new sound and lighting equipment.

In addition, regular Polo Club performer John Royen, a jazz pianist, told me the lounge is now long enough to cater simultaneously to people there for the show and those who'd like a space quiet enough for talking.

The Polo Club upgrade is the most recent for the 23-story Windsor Court, which in 2011-12 underwent a $22 million refurbishment for all of its 316 guestrooms.

During an overnight stay there in early February, for which I received a discounted media rate, I was assigned to one of the hotel's 261 suites. I was so charmed by the unit's soft colors; luxurious, antique-style furnishings and the sweeping 19th-floor view of the Mississippi River that only the guilt over what I might miss in the Crescent City prevented me from simply vegging there.

But, of course, I did leave the room. Within the Windsor Court I spent some of my time at the 22nd-floor Club Lounge, where I took in a view that was close to 360 degrees, and where I enjoyed cocktails and appetizers on Friday night, followed by a breakfast of bagels, cereal, juice and eggs on Saturday morning.

The high-English feel of the Polo Club is present at the Club Lounge, too, and throughout the Windsor Court. Indeed, the hotel is dotted with 17th- and 18th-century antiques and reproductions as well as paintings that depict Windsor Castle and evoke the British royal life. As a horse racing fan, I especially enjoyed the enormous trophy behind the Polo Club bar, which was presented in 1910 to a winning horse at England's famed Royal Ascot racecourse.

Rounding out the Windsor Court's very British appeal is the afternoon tea service, complete with scones, offered Thursdays through Sundays in Le Salon, which is part of the hotel's lobby.

Other amenities at the hotel include a sizable fitness center, the 4,500-square-foot Spa at Windsor Court, an outdoor pool, 10,000 square feet of meetings space and the lobby Cocktail Bar.

The Grill Room, which serves contemporary American cuisine, was awarded four stars out of a possible five this year by the Forbes Travel Guide.